Campanelle with Italian Sausage and Broccoli
So easy and so delicious! The flavorful sausage makes this dish a cinch to throw together and you can substitute any green vegetable you like for the broccoli. I often make this dish with broccoli rabe or a combination of the two. When zucchini is in season I would sub that too. The dish comes together in the time it takes to cook the pasta, making it a great weeknight meal. When making any pasta dish it’s important to use a quality pasta. A bronze cut pasta has a rougher surface making it better to cling to the sauce. Pasta made with semolina flour is well worth a few extra dollars compared to the dollar varieties that will fall apart when boiled. There are many gourmet varieties, but Barilla is always good and available in any grocery store.
Tips
I like to use chicken sausage when making this dish, but pork would work well too. This dish is delicious with just the broccoli too, just season the broccoli well with some garlic powder and Italian seasonings to make up for the flavors missing by eliminating the sausage.
Trim off the dried out ends of the broccoli, but keep the stems. There is much flavor in the stems. Cut the stems into bite size pieces and use them in the dish too.
Campanelle with Italian Sausage and Broccoli
Serves 4-6
PREP 15 minutes
COOK 10 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 pound campanile pasta or similar pasta shape
1 large head broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
1 pound sweet Italian chicken sausage, out of casing
1/4 cup olive oil
Freshly grated parmesan cheese, to taste
Kosher salt and black pepper
Red pepper flakes, optional
INSTRUCTIONS
Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Add enough salt to the boiling water that you can taste it in the water. Add the pasta and cook according to directions, until the pasta is al dente.
Meanwhile prepare the sauce. In a large sauté pan cook the sausage over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Break apart the clumps of sausage with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
Add the olive oil to the sauté pan and once heated through add the broccoli. Season the dish with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if using. Cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until the broccoli is bright green and tender. We like the broccoli to get soft and start to break apart to create more of a sauce, but if you prefer a crisp broccoli then just cook it for a few minutes.
Once the pasta is cooked, reserve 1 cup of pasta water and add the pasta directly into the sauté pan. Add half of the pasta water along with a generous amount of parmesan cheese and mix well. If the pasta is still too thick, add more water.
Season the pasta with salt and pepper and more parmesan cheese. Enjoy!